Emerson's PlantWeb to automate IDEC's biopharmaceutical manufacturing

By Control Engineering Staff

08/29/2002

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Austin, TX—Emerson Process Management announced Aug. 28 that it has been awarded a $14-million contract by IDEC Pharmaceuticals Corp. to automate its new large-scale biotech manu-facturing facility in Oceanside, California. The contract involves engineering, project management and installation of Emerson's PlantWeb digital plant architecture in the new facility.

IDEC is a biopharmaceutical company engaged in researching, developing and commercializing therapies for the treatment of cancer, auto-immune and inflammatory diseases. The New IDEC Manufacturing Operation (NIMO) will house 15,000-liter bioreactors and downstream process-ing equipment. These facilities will provide for the simultaneous manufacture of multiple products, and will give IDEC large-scale mammalian cell-culture manufacturing capacity.

Emerson completed the NIMO project's front-end engineering and design this past December, and is currently providing comprehensive engineering and project management services on the project. Emerson reports that its automation services and PlantWeb digital plant architecture will provide a platform for IDEC to build and commission its manufacturing facilities in the quickest time possible. Once the plant is completed, the PlantWeb architecture will collect and distribute vital process information. Emerson will help IDEC apply this information to ensure that operations perform up to their potential, and that regulatory reporting and validation processes are streamlined.

PlantWeb components that are part of the IDEC contract include the DeltaV digital automation system, which features a human interface and advanced batch and reporting functions. Also included is PlantWeb's AMS predictive maintenance software, which provides instrument engineering and startup ease, as well as maintenance capabilities.